Stephen Bradley has been urged to take the Lincoln City job as ‘football is a ‘religion in England and 3.00pm kick-offs are their mass’.
The Shamrock Rovers boss will lead the League of Ireland champions into battle against Finn Harps at Tallaght Stadium tonight.
But going into three home games in a week with Sligo Rovers and Derry City to come, his Rovers future beyond tonight’s game is still uncertain.
Bradley’s standard eve-of-match press conference was cancelled yesterday as he continues to mull over the Imps offer.
But Eoin Doyle believes the Hoops boss should jump at the chance to prove himself in a new league.
Doyle was a League One regular with Bolton Wanderers up to January before returning home to Ireland with St Pat’s.
But the striker, 33, was a prolific scorer in English football for the best part of a decade across the Championship, League One and League Two.
He knows the League One scene better than anyone in League of Ireland football right now, and reckons Bradley would be onto a winner.
Doyle - once a team-mate of Bradley’s at Rovers - said yesterday: “It's different over there, it's a religion, it's their mass, 3pm on a Saturday.
“That's what they do, they come out in numbers. It's nothing you can compare it to, it's just different and it's very strong.
“At Bolton we had an average of 15,000 or 16,000, and for the big ones you can get 28,000, I think I played in front of 28,000 against Wigan this year.
“To put things into perspective if you get promoted from League One to the Championship it's a bigger windfall than getting into Europe.
“So, finances wise, it would be unbelievable and all these factors come into it. If I were him I would go, yeah, if he wants to have a crack at it.”
Doyle played for Chesterfield, Cardiff, Preston, Bradford City, Swindon Town and Bolton and continued: “I did my time, but if I was him I'd go for it.”
Some Shamrock Rovers supporters will wonder what the attraction in Lincoln City is considering the Hoops have European football and seed status this summer.
But Doyle feels it’s a simple case of League One being out of sight and out of mind in Ireland.
He said: “You don't see much of it on telly over here. But over there it's an intense league. Even League Two, I played in front of 18,000 fans in League Two.
“They’re big, big clubs. You have League One clubs who were in the Premier League - Sunderland, Portsmouth, Ipswich, Bolton, Sheffield Wednesday, now Derby. All giants.
“The intensity of it is huge with 46 league games and throw in the cups and you’re playing 56 games.
“This year in particular, as I came from it, League One is stronger than when I played in it before.
“When I first played there I had jumped from League Two to League One, and I did it again this year with Bolton but the jump was much bigger, the gap is bigger.
“There’s a lot of money in it with big budgets at the likes of Ipswich and Portsmouth and Sheffield Wednesday have thrown a lot of money at it, Derby will do that next year.
“It's a strong league and very attractive.”
Back in August, Doyle played in Bolton’s 1-0 win away to Lincoln and reckons the Imps would suit Bradley down to the ground.
Doyle added: “It's a team that will suit him, if he goes. They were just missing one or two players in key areas to bump them up.
“They play a good style of football and it wouldn't take him long to put his mark on it, if he goes in.
“It's no surprise they are interested in him. He has built Rovers up from tough times to the club that everyone wants to be now at the minute.
“I’ve no doubt if he goes over that he will be a success.”
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